until 1803 he drew a pension of £2,000 a year nominally from the revenue of the Cape Colony, but really from the British treasury, which made up any deficiencies in the yearly accounts, and, owing mainly to the disturbances that took place in Graaff-Reinet subsequent to this date and to hostilities with the Xosas and Hottentots, deficiencies on a large scale occurred regularly. From 1802 onward the pension was a direct charge upon the imperial revenue.
After his arrival in England Lord Macartney was offered a high office in the government, with a seat in the cabinet, but felt himself obliged to decline it, on account of the precarious state of his health. He died on the 31st of March 1806, in his sixty-ninth year, and as he left no children the title became extinct.
